Dates: Monday, 21/10/2024
Time: 5:30pm
Venue: F09.331. Madsen Building. Madsen Seminar Room 331
How to register: Free, no registration required

Abstract: In this talk I introduce the book that I am currently writing on happiness which is called 'Happiness for Mortals'. A central claim of this book is that happiness can be analysed as a broad pattern of successful loves (e.g. love of self, romantic love, love of place, love of community). An attraction of this view is that it synthesises existing approaches that appeal to pleasure, desire-satisfaction, and virtue. Where the successful love view goes further is in organising our various desires around the final good of one's beloveds. In addition, reciprocation allows the worthiness of both the beloved and the lover to be validated.

Bio: Tom Cochrane is senior lecturer in philosophy at Flinders University, Adelaide. He has held previous positions at The University of Geneva, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Sheffield and the University of York. He specialises in the philosophy of mind, aesthetics, and well-being. He is the lead editor of the multi-disciplinary volume The Emotional Power of Music (Oxford University Press, 2013) and the author of The Emotional Mind (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and The Aesthetic Value of the World (Oxford University Press, 2021).